A Study in Scarlet
by Mutant-Enemy-730
Summary: One-Shot. Hollstein. How intimate can dancing be?


Disclaimer: I claim no ownership of these characters, they belong solely to Le Fanu and the web series show runners.

A/N: So I wrote 70% of this in long hand. Then I transcribed and edited. I miss long hand, like whoa.

I wrote/edited this quite late. Please excuse typos!

**I seriously recommend reading this while listening to Banks' album, "Goddess."**

**The dance floor part of this was written to the beat of "Beggin for Thread" by Banks.**

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><p>If asked, Carmilla would not be able to pin down when she truly began to feel something other than vexation and irritation for Laura. It was more of an organic beginning, one without a true, stark event to draw evidence from. Maybe it was better that way, it made everything more natural and fluid.<p>

Looking over the brim of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's first Sherlock Holmes novel, which was often overlooked by readers seeking the more famous Holmes novels; Carmilla couldn't help feeling an odd parallel between the book in her hands, and the woman folding clothes on Friday night in the room with her.

"You know, there are far better sights to be seen and delicacies to be tasted on a night such as this," Carmilla hummed, returning her gaze to the well-read pages before Laura had turned to glance in her direction, a shirt tucked under her chin, held mid-fold.

"Is that your way of saying you want to go out and eat?" Laura asked after a drawn out pause, letting the shirt drop down from her chin to complete the fold. She watched as Carmilla idly flipped a page in the book, an eyebrow quirked slightly in refusal to meet her gaze.

Sliding a finger along the page edge, Carmilla tucked her fingertip under the bottom corner, attempting to maintain a level of impassivity as she took a deep breath before responding,

"That all depends on you, Cupcake."

Carmilla sensed the eye roll directed at her, but continued reading, splitting her concentration on the printed text and on the human in her periphery. Laura placed the folded shirt on her bureau before sighing and placing her hands on her hips, her gaze dropping to the basket of unfolded laundry on the floor.

That was all Carmilla needed to see to know that she had won. Not that she minded staying in, snuggling up under a throw blanket, and watching whatever Laura wanted after her father went to sleep. However, she could come up with a few ideas of the things they could do that didn't include remaining under the same roof as Laura's father, who's presence instilled in Carmilla an awareness that a parental figure's protectiveness could be just as threatening in the twenty-first century as in the eighteenth.

Sighing quietly again, Laura turned and sat on the edge of the bed, a clear sign that she wanted Carmilla to follow-up her statement, but Carmilla wanted to wait her out; her human could only stay quiet for so long before usually talking herself into something Carmilla only ever had to allude to.

"Carm, how would you like a night of dinner and dancing?" Laura asked, crumbling under the silence.

Carmilla felt her lips twitch ever-so slightly at the question and quirked her eyebrow, her eyes flicking up briefly to finally meet Laura's.

"Not bad, sweetheart," She crooned, allowing her mouth to twist up into a half-smile, "But you already ate."

Laura eyed her, a flirtatious gleam in her eye, "Yes, but you haven't," Then, leaning to place an arm on the bed by reaching over Carmilla's abdomen, effectively blocking the book from view and replacing it with a sumptuous view of her cleavage, "And I know how, _antsy_, you can get when you're all cooped up and drinking cold blood out of a carton."

Carmilla felt her lips part at the inference and dragged her gaze up to meet Laura's slightly hooded eyes, an eyebrow arcing up playfully at her. Carmilla swallowed thickly, only minutely annoyed at how this one human could affect her so. She had made dozens of young maidens swoon for centuries after all, and swore she had better control of her desires than this.

"Well, when you put it that way," Carmilla began, tossing the book somewhere down the bed near her feet and lifting a hand to slip into Laura's hair, her thumb sliding across a smooth cheek as she pulled the human closer, "How could I ever say no?"

The rhetorical question was breathed across Laura's lips, who exhaled in anticipation, only to gasp a moment later as Camilla closed the distance, sealing her mouth over Laura's and tightening her grip in Laura's hair. Carmilla had always enjoyed kissing; it was in many ways similar to dancing – seductive, intimate, alluring, and oft-times downright scandalous. With Laura, everything felt new, and it made her stomach tighten in excitement. Carmilla could kiss Laura for hours, and, in another century, that would be considered far beyond risqué, entering a level of promiscuity which could ruin a young lady's reputation. In this century however, she knew that a kiss just wouldn't sustain them for hours without leading elsewhere, and with Laura she didn't want this to be just about sex.

That was not to say that she didn't want sex. She did. It was painful, catching Laura's scent when they made out and having to control herself from just ripping the clothes right off of the human and claiming her; but she had stolen many ladies' virtue before they were taken by her "Mother," and she wanted her time with Laura to be different. She and Laura had never explicitly discussed the subject, but Laura had gleaned enough from Carmilla's stories that she was holding back for multiple reasons, and Carmilla merely let her think it was because she was "old fashioned." It was a sufficient reason without being a harmful lie or an insecurity-inducing number of sexual partners. All of this didn't mean that there weren't certain ways to _bend_ her own rules regarding the act of sex. Carmilla liked loopholes, she liked orgasms even more, and you didn't need actual sex for that sometimes.

Sliding her tongue along Laura's lower lip, Carmilla pressed ahead when the blonde's pliable mouth opened at her insistence. She took her time, her tongue playing along teeth and skillfully circled around Laura's tongue. Feeling Laura shiver and lean her body into her own, Carmilla nipped Laura's lip teasingly when a hand came up to cup her jaw. Hearing the human's pulse skip at the playful bite gave Carmilla pause, and she pulled back slightly, taking in Laura's flushed cheeks, her eyes opening slowly in question at the halt to their kissing.

"What is it?" Laura asked, her voice deeper, adding a layer of intimacy to her normally inquisitive tone.

Carmilla smiled softly, "Nothing, just…" She trailed off, not sure if she should bring it up now, or later, at a club, where she could more thoroughly test her hypothesis without the threat of a parental figure intruding, "…thinking about what trouble we can get up to when we go dancing."

A knowing look flashed in Laura's eyes at the statement, and Carmilla knew she was remembering their waltz back in the dorm. Laura may be 19, and human, and innocent or even naïve about a good many things, but she was also an adult, who grew up in a pervasive culture saturated with sex and subtext.

Laura would be a fool to interpret Carmilla's comment about dancing as having anything but sexual connotations. They had gone out dancing once at an on-campus party the Zetas had thrown, but that was before all Hell literary broke loose. Before they had first kissed.

Tonight would be completely different, and every touch would be charged, magnified with overt desires.

"Well, we should get started then. With you, there's no knowing what can happen in a dark club packed with dozens of living, breathing bodies," Laura remarked, smirking softly in an attempt to appear unaffected by the implications in Carmilla's statement.

Carmilla smiled slowly, her thumb smoothing back and forth across Laura's cheek, "True, but I can guarantee that all of my energy will be focused on you."

Laura flushed at that, and leaned in to give Carmilla a chaste kiss, lingering as she pulled away, her nose gently brushing along the vampire's cheekbone.

"Good to know," Laura murmured softly near Carmilla's ear, pulling back to sit up straight.

Carmilla opened her eyes, her brow creasing slightly, "Never doubt that Laura. You are wonderful, intelligent, brash, and unflinching in your desire to help people," Carmilla fell silent for a moment, her eyes unwavering as she saw Laura's expression soften, "You have enraptured me."

"Carm," Laura began, an affectionate smile spreading across her face, "You are alarmingly sweet sometimes."

Carmilla felt her lips twitch upwards and cocked her head to one side, "Is that so surprising?"

Laura smiled a bit playfully, "Well, that tongue of yours can be quite caustic."

Carmilla sensed that Laura was only teasing, and she gave no indication of old wounds still healing from their many fights and disagreements since Carmilla had burst into 307 for the first time. Taking the comment in the tone in which it was delivered, Carmilla smiled lazily,

"There are many talented things my tongue is capable of," an eyebrow quirk at the end of her statement punctuated words and scenarios left unsaid, and Laura inhaled sharply before standing quickly. Carmilla could hear Laura's heartbeat quicken in reaction to wherever her imagination took her, and she slowly uncrossed her legs and shifted to sit on the edge of the bed to better watch Laura flutter about her room in an attempt to calm her nerves and get ready at the same time.

"I'll be back, let me just change into something more appropriate," Laura stated, gesturing to her white undershirt and gray sweatpants.

Not missing a beat, Carmilla stood and lightly grasped Laura's elbow, halting her rapid exit, "If I could dance in the over-done ball gowns and still find it intimate, than I'm sure whatever you wear will be perfect. I'm not going out dancing for the clothes or the fashion, sweetheart." Carmilla winked slowly, releasing her hold on Laura's arm and moving towards the door, "I'm going out dancing with _you_."

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><p>Despite her favoritism towards wearing black, Carmilla was fond of rich, luscious colors. Luxurious greens, satiny blues, and blooming purples, to name a few; but the full-bodied appeal of succulent shades of red always drove her to distraction.<p>

She had been struggling to find her voice for most of the ride to the club due to Laura's choice of attire, and instead attempted to not constantly wet her lips at the nearly delectable sight.

Historically, Laura's fashion sense tended to conform to the comfortable and casual style commonly seen in dorms and campus living. Tonight however, she was snugly fit into a pair of skinny, dark wash jeans and a deep wine red shirt that draped off of one shoulder, drooping lazily to reveal her collarbones, before halting tamely above her bust.

Carmilla had drank an entire bottle of blood on the drive over, but when she helped Laura out of her coat at the entrance to the club, she felt her throat tighten in anticipation as if she hadn't fed in days.

Wrapping a hand around Laura from behind when they made their way to the edge of the dance floor, Carmilla crooned into Laura's ear, "You little minx."

Laura shyly looked over her shoulder, catching Carmilla's eye briefly before dropping her gaze to her mouth, "You like how I look?"

"Cupcake, you look edible in this outfit," Carmilla murmured, lowering her head enough to inhale the human's sweet scent which had driven her to repeatedly stealing a certain yellow pillow. She could feel and hear the hot blood surging just beneath the pale skin, and lowered her mouth to the base of Laura's neck, just above the collarbone, pressing a soft kiss to the skin.

Laura shivered at the flattery, knowing Carmilla's words were double-edged, and the vampire walked a fine line between affection and predation. Before she could reply, Carmilla had dragged her on to the floor, rich beats sinking into her bones as she was pulled flush against the vampire's warm body. It wasn't hard to find a rhythm, and she was dipping and sliding against the dark-haired beauty without her usual sense of self-consciousness within moments. Carmilla felt the staccato beats of Laura's pulse thrumming along her skin as she slipped a hand down to her lower back, molding her body against Laura's, a leather-clad thigh sliding between the smaller woman's.

Laura's eyes widened slightly at the sudden pressure, and a soft "oh" escaped her lips before she had draped her arms over Carmilla's shoulders and leaned her face into the vampire's neck, hot puffs of air blowing across her skin as she succumbed to Carmilla's motions, her own body dropping down slightly to increase the pressure on her center with every dip to the music's beat.

Carmilla dipped her head down, her lips teasing along the shell of Laura's ear before nipping a gentle trail along the soft skin of her neck. Fingers dug in at her shoulders, and Carmilla felt Laura shiver, before soothing the teased skin with the softest of licks back up the side of Laura's neck.

"Fuck Carmilla, you're going to make me…" Laura trailed off, and Carmilla smirked.

"That's kind of the point, sweet heart," Carmilla purred, "Unless you'd like me to stop?"

Carmilla hadn't even halted her motions yet, and Laura was already clutching at her more tightly, lifting her head up to look into Carmilla's eyes, her own hooded with desire.

Carmilla smiled lazily and quirked her eyebrow knowingly before leaning in and capturing Laura's lips in a sweet kiss. Pulling back quickly, as it was easy to dance and kiss or dance and get Laura off, but not all three at once, Carmilla trailed her lips along Laura's jaw line before lowering again to her neck. She could feel Laura's body tightening against her, and she decided now would be the best time to test her hypothesis.

As Laura shifted her grip to slide up into Carmilla's hair at the base of her scalp, Carmilla lightly scraped her fangs against the heated, flushed skin at the base of her neck.

"Oh God, Carm…" Laura's hands fisted in Carmilla's hair, scraping her scalp, and Carmilla felt her hips jolt forward at the sensation, her fangs pricking Laura's skin in reaction, and she suddenly felt Laura come undone.

The deep pounding of the music and the press of the bodies around them both hid Laura's unraveling and provided the tempo that helped her ride out her orgasm, her breath hot in Carmilla's ear.

It was some minutes later, during which Carmilla had mostly held the smaller human upright as they gently moved to the music, that Laura regained enough composure to relax her grip on Carmilla and pull back slightly to look the vampire in the eyes, "You will be the death of me."

Carmilla raised her brows teasingly, "Le petite mort?"

Laura pursed her lips and lightly swatted her shoulder, but remained silent in thought for some moments, before asking, "Was this your plan all along?"

Carmilla shrugged, "Dancing can be elegant and stiff and boring. It can also be sexual and subversive of propriety. You can insinuate the sexual act, and, if you're skilled and have a good partner," Carmilla pulled Laura close again, shifting her legs so that Laura could slide her thigh against the apex of Carmilla's legs. Carmilla's eyes fluttered at the pressure, delighting in it, "If you have a good partner, you can get up to all kinds of devious acts while remaining in public and fully clothed."

"Carmilla," Laura began, a playful look in her eyes as she lowered her hand to splay out across the vampire's lower back, both holding her close and providing added pressure, "I think this is the start of a beautiful dancing partnership."

_fin_


End file.
